Did naps lengthen?

[PaulinePetrovaPosey]

DD is 8 months and only naps on 20 minute chunks, despite sleeping well at night.

I've tried every trick possible to get naps to lengthen so I'm really, really not looking for more ideas to try.

But I've been told by a few people that naps magically lengthened at 9/10 months without anything needing to change.

What's your experience? If you had a short napper did they stay that way or did you finally get some decent day time sleeps?

[Abouttimemum]

Hi, yes my DS had 4 30-minute naps per day up until about 7/8 months, then he dropped to 3 and was like that for a while.
At about 10 months he started sleeping more on a morning, 45 min to an hour and the third nap went. He then regularly started doing about an hour in the morning, and 30 mins in the pm.

He started to stretch that morning nap and by the time he was 12 months we had a good couple of months of 1.5 hours AM and 45 mins PM which was bliss.

He’s 17 months now and has one long magical Up to 2 hours nap which he dropped to at 15 months.

I honestly never thought I’d see the day.
I’d no sooner make myself a cup of tea and he was awake again!
Thankfully he is also a good night sleeper so I felt like I could deal with him being awake so much (most of the time!!)

I did start concentrating on putting him in his cot for Most naps and once he got used to it he definitely started sleeping for longer.

[PaulinePetrovaPosey]

Music to my ears. Thank you.

[modgepodge]

Yes, my daughter only ever did 30-45 mins and only on me til about 9m. By a year she was doing 2 hours (sometimes more!!!!!) in the morning and 45mins in the afternoon - now 17m she does between 1 and 2 hours in one chunk. I haven’t done any training or anything to make this happen, she got there on her own.

[Hartleyhare1206]

Yes my DD used to nap for 35 mins on the dot! she then started having one long nap and 2 short naps a day (and we never knew which one would be long so made it hard to plan much!) and then by the time she was on two naps they were easily 1.5 hrs each and I’d have to wake her from each one. By the time she was down to one nap it was easily 2-3 hours long.
Second the earlier comment about having cot naps in a dark room for lengthening them, when I stopped just letting her nap on me/on the sofa/I’m her bouncy chair etc and made her nap in her nursery In the dark, they certainly lengthened.
Sorry I can’t remember to well at what age this all happened at, she is almost 4 now; but I do remember she was on two naps by 8/9 months and one nap at 14 months.
Know what you mean about not having time to make a cuppa before they wake - I used to get a hot drink ready in a travel cup, make my breakfast/lunch and get my book ready so that as soon as I put her down I didn’t have to waste a minute of my “break” 😂😂😂

[mintich]

Yes! It just happened naturally

[PaulinePetrovaPosey]

I LOVE YOU ALL

[Imicola]

Yep, same here, about 9 months she went from 30-45 mins max up to a couple of hours at a time, it was amazing! It coincided with me putting her in a jumper at nap time, so in my brain that's what did it... Probably was just coincidental timing!

[BuffaloMozzerella]

Yep happened naturally. I also tried everything 😩

She's 15 months now and has a long lunchtime nap which is FAB!!

[misselphaba]

DD was very hard work when it came to naps until 10mths and then like magic she began napping for a couple of hours at a time in the cot whereas before she only really napped in the buggy or car. If she napped in the cot (rarely and only after being fed to sleep), she woke up after 20mins and could easily be awake for most of the day, crashing out at half 4 whilst feeding.

It was a while ago but I remember ssshing her through sleep cycles one day when she stirred in her cot and it only bloody worked/pure coincidence. She stayed asleep and that was it - she napped like a champion from that day onwards. It was such hard work when it came to daytime sleep when she was a young baby that I couldn't believe my luck when she used to go down for two hours after lunch each day until 2.5y.

[crazychemist]

Magically lengthened at 13 months. I’d tried EVERYTHING as she was an awful sleeper - never could get her to nap unless she was held or in car seat/pram. And NOTHING would keep her asleep more than one sleep cycle during the day - I got 29 minutes exactly every time. I was tearing my hair out because I was convinced it was bad for her not to be getting more day sleep, and I couldn’t get anything done! Then she just did it on her own. Suddenly one day naps were 1hr30, then a month or so later they were suddenly 2h15 and stayed that way until she stopped napping (around about 2 and a half).

Some kids seemed to be able to be trained to sleep longer from a younger age. Some take a bit longer to get there. Fingers crossed it happens for you soon!

[arinah]

DD was awful with naps for months. From 2-6 months she would nap for 10/15 minutes at a time maybe 4 times a day. It could only be on my lap otherwise she would just wake up instantly. She's now almost 8 months and is now naps on average 3 times a day - 30 minutes morning nap, one hour midday nap, 2 hour nap around 4pm and then down for the night from 8/9pm. I am able to leave her for her 4pm nap but still have to hang around for the other two, but honestly I'll take what I can get!